Coda
by FracturedFlame
Summary: "Looking back on that day, Jay supposed that the universe had finally clued in to the fact that he had dealt with more than his allotted amount of sh*t and had subsequently decided to reward him." Marble Hornets one-shot. Written for mhficweek13. Prompt by quintuplehorror.


**title**: Coda

**characters/pairing**: jay, tim

**rating**: PG-13 for swearing, PG for everything else. Warning for cuteness

**wc**: 2170

**prompt**: fic in which tim and jay are still friends after beating the operator and are in a café or whatever just talking and being happy, can be fluff if you like

**summary**:

"Looking back on that day, Jay supposed that the universe had finally clued in to the fact that he had dealt with more than his allotted amount of shit and had subsequently decided to reward him."

**notes**: (Very mild) SPOILERS for all MH vids through Entry #76. Written for mhficweek13. Prompt by quintuplehorror. Apparently I only really think in angst, because the first version I wrote of this is ridden with it. However, I wanted to fill what the requester wanted, so I wrote a different, fluffy one. This one (Coda) is the happier one, and the other version that I posted earlier (Requiem) is the ANGSTY one. Still, I've never been able to see MH ending anywhere close to happy, so angst crept into this one too and I had to make them a bit OOC. Also, I purposely left the actual end to the series ambiguous.

"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story."

~Orson Welles

Looking back on that day, Jay supposed that the universe had finally clued in to the fact that he had dealt with more than his allotted amount of shit and had subsequently decided to reward him.

And so it was that he shambled down a cracked, deserted street, jacket pulled up to protect his neck against the slate sky and hands shoved hard into his pockets. Jay curled his fingers into his hands to help spread the heat and squinted his eyes against the glowing gray clouds where the sun was supposed to be. He muttered nonsense, then angrily scuffed his shoes on the ground, his disposition as stormy as the weather. Jay was internally dreading meeting Tim at the café. Despite what they'd gone through together, he didn't really know the man behind the mask. Employing his childish talent for avoiding the problem as long as he could, he meandered down the street in the most roundabout path possible.

Ducking into an alleyway, Jay continued along his path of dark ruminations. Frustrated, he leaned heavily on the dirty brick. He wasn't even sure what he was so angry about. Perhaps it was that the end of this had happened so suddenly. Jay hadn't had time to brace himself, to mentally prepare. Now it was all over, and he had been abruptly dropped back into reality. A reality where he couldn't hop from hotel to hotel, where he had to get a job and pay taxes and settle down somewhere and make actual friends and perform the monotonous things everyone hated but would be lost without. He didn't think he remembered how to just go about life like a normal human being. For the duration of his investigation, Jay had desperately avoided thinking about what it would be like after. Now that it came... he was adrift.

_Ugh,_ Jay thought, rubbing his temples wearily. Thinking about this was enough to recreate his familiar splitting headaches.

_At least _this_ is familiar..._ he thought darkly, then scolded himself. _Not the time to be feeling sorry for yourself. Keep it together, get this out of the way, and you can get back to your misery of a life after lunch with Tim._

Not at all invigorated by his self pep-talk (_God, that sounded pathetic_), Jay tiredly kicked another pebble. It rebounded off of a garbage bin and into a cardboard box, which let out a plaintive cry.

That caught his attention.

Jay, always failing to heed his instincts that screamed '_Just run, you dumbfuck, that's a bad idea, didn't you learn _anything_?_', cautiously approached the box. He hesitated, then placed a shaking hand on the stiff carton. Gripping firmly, he ripped it off the ground and pitched it behind him, bringing his hands in front of his face to protect himself.

Lying on the ground was a mustard yellow hoodie. Jay blinked, surprised. A few seconds passed, completely still. Nothing else happened. Carefully lowering his arms, he crouched down and inspected it. He tentatively poked at the jacket, recoiling when it let out another whine. Gathering up his courage, he pinched the edge of the fabric and tore it off the ground.

Large, glistening green eyes stared imploringly up at him. Startled, Jay stumbled backwards and tripped, falling hard. He got up quickly and looked back at the little ball of black fur curled up and shivering in the cold. Jay approached it with caution, suddenly struck with the highly irrational and preposterous notion that the guy in the hoody had been somehow turned into a tiny kitten.

Getting closer, Jay inspected the trembling, fluffy animal on the ground. It's head was buried in its torso, shielding itself from the cold. The poor thing couldn't have been more than a few weeks old, and it was already alone and on the streets without any idea what to do.

_Tough luck,_ Jay pitied. Then: _It looks lost too. Like me._

As if sensing that he was wavering between two decisions, the kitten removed its nose from underneath its paw and turned the full force of its impossibly large eyes on him. Then it mewled, a high-pitched, mournful sound.

_Dammit, _Jay cursed, scooping up the kitten. It yelped a bit at that, tiny paws stretched out in alarm. He could feel its panicked heartbeat pressed against his palm.

Without even thinking about it, he curved his arms like he was holding a baby and brought the ball of warmth closer to him, cooing at it softly.

"It's all right," he whispered. "Quiet down, now. You're safe."

Gradually, the panicked whimpers that the small beast was emitting began to slow. Two curious, glimmering orbs fixed their gaze on Jay's face, a tiny tail emerging from the fuzz of the fur coat and twitching repetitively against his arm. Then tiny paws stretched out towards the sky and Jay caught one between his thumb and forefinger. The kitten's gaze became solemn as Jay moved the paw back and forth for a brief second, like shaking someone's hand. Jay laughed slightly, for the first time in years, ever since he was caught up in this mess.

"Nice to meet you, too." he said, smiling.

The kitten began to purr, and the rumble spread throughout Jay's chest, warming it. The kitten blinked once, then squirmed around to burrow its head against Jay's chest. Worried about how it was shivering, he looked around to find a place to get warm. Clutching it closer to him, Jay started to walk quickly to the café, thankful that it was close.

Jay pushed the door open with the obtrusive ring of a bell, then sat down quickly at the closest table. He gently lifted the cat onto the table. The kitten was petrified for a second, opting to curl its tail around itself and watch carefully for any signs of danger in the confusing world of the half-empty café.

"...Sir?"

Jay glanced up guiltily at the waitress who had appeared at his elbow, her eyebrows arched and her pen poised above her writing pad. She was looking questioningly at the kitten on the table, where it was just beginning to take a few tentative steps.

"Uh... is it okay for it to stay there? I don't know what else to do." Jay asked.

"Well, we're not supposed to let animals on the tables..." she began slowly.

The kitten experimentally rolled on its back and stretched out, yawning briefly.

"I suppose its fine, for now," the waitress said, caving.

Jay smiled sheepishly at her, taking note that the expression wasn't as forced as it usually were when he had to converse with people.

Jay ordered meals for himself and Tim. All the while, the kitten was peering over the edge of the table as if it was contemplating jumping down. Clearly thinking better about it, the kitten sat primly and began to whine.

"Oh, uh... you must be hungry..." Jay said, wracking his mind for what to do.

The waitress simply kept writing. "I'll bring out a saucer of warm milk for the kitty."

Jay thanked her and she bustled off to the kitchen. Leaving the cat to its own devices, Jay grumbled stormily, checking his watch. Of course Tim was even later than he was.

He watched the kitten inspect its surroundings for a few seconds, its tail moving languidly now as it started to warm up. Cautiously, Jay placed his cupped hand on its back. The kitten regarded him coolly, slowly beginning to purr again.

"Jay?"

Jay looked up, startled, as he saw Tim standing off to the side of him. The kitten automatically nestled itself into a tight form underneath Jay's hand, looking out at the intruder in distress.

Tim was staring. "What's with the kitten?"

"I found it," Jay said, wincing at how inadequate the explanation sounded.

Tim shrugged and took off his coat, placing it on the back of the chair. He caught Jay's surprised look at snorted.

"Really? You thought that after all we've been through, I would be thrown off by you getting a cat?" he said, sitting down.

Jay conceded that point in favor of patting gently on the kitten's back. The motion relaxed the kitten from its tight position, coaxing it to stretch.

"So how's everything with you?" Tim said.

"I'm doing alright," Jay said. "You?"

"Well, I think I've been handling everything well, all thing's considered."

"Really, it's all we can do," Jay pointed out. "There's really no way to move forward from this. We were basically dumped back into our old lives."

"At least now I can hold a job," Tim said.

"Yeah. At least now I can get a house and a job." Jay said. "No more shitty hotel wi-fi for me!"

"I'd drink to that, if we had anything."

They both chuckled a bit. Jay retracted his hand from the kitten's back, and Tim placed his hand there almost timidly. The kitten cracked open one of its eyes, looked him up and down, then went back to sleeping. Tim grinned goofily for a moment, then his eyes turned serious.

"Where are you going to be staying?" he asked.

Jay looked towards the ground, avoiding Tim's eyes. "I-I hadn't really thought about it."

"Y'know, if you need to stay somewhere..." Tim said slowly. "You can stay at my place for a bit. Just as long as you get back on your feet."

"Really? You sure?" Jay asked, relieved.

"'Course. You've helped me plenty. It's about time I started to repay you."

"Thanks, Tim."

"Besides," Tim went on. "I'll have this little fluffball hanging around. It'll certainly bring a little less gloom to the place. What's its name anyway?"

"I don't know," Jay admitted. "I just found it on the street."

They were silent for a few seconds, then Jay snapped his fingers.

"Wait, I know." He dug around in his pocket for a second and produced a thin leather collar. The tag read, 'Rocky'.

"Where did you get that?" Tim asked.

"This was Alex's dog's collar. I think Alex still kept it with him. I found it with the rest of his personal effects."

"Well, why'd you take it?"

Jay hesitated. "I don't really know. I didn't really want to just leave it there. Even if Alex was a murderous psychopath, there were a few things that still mattered to him. I guess I just wanted a reminder that at one point, Alex loved something. And those things shouldn't be forgotten."

Tim nodded at that, and Jay moved to put the collar on the kitten. It wouldn't cooperate particularly well, bobbing and weaving until it was eventually caught on the buckle. Predictably, when Jay finally got it on, it was even loose around the animal's middle. It slipped right out, meowing triumphantly.

"Well, maybe I'll just keep the collar with me," Jay said, laughing from the futile effort. "It'll be okay if I call it Rocky."

"What if it's a girl?"

"So? Rocky will just be a kick-ass girl kitten."

Rocky mewled matter-of-factly, as if in agreement.

"That settles that," Tim said, amused. Their food came about then, and Tim's eyes went wide.

"You ordered for me? God, thank you! I'm starving!"

Tim stuffed his mouth full of the sandwich, then froze and looked up as Jay began snickering.

"Whuh?" He tried to ask through the mouthful.

"You have less table manners than the cat," Jay said. Rocky had positioned itself daintily at the edge of the saucer and was lapping up the white liquid with neat efficiency.

Tim shrugged and continued to stuff his mouth.

As they ate, the two of them discussed topics ranging from current events to the weather to TV shows. None of them really knew anything incredibly recent, as they hadn't been worried about keeping up with the news or TV shows in years. But it felt great to feel normal, like two old friends catching up over lunch. Gone was the feeling of displacement that Jay had kept in the pit of his stomach since their ordeal ended. He was moving towards something now, and life had begun its forward, regenerative cycle.

Rocky finished the milk and ambled towards Jay. The kitten rubbed its head against his arm, then lined up its spine along the length of his arm and snuggled closer. Jay smiled faintly.

Everything had come full circle, and it all seemed... right. Not perfect, not even close, but everything felt whole, like they were going on the right track.

Tim finished eating and moved to get up, putting his coat back on. "You coming?"

Jay ran his thumb over Rocky's forehead, causing the kitten to let out a happy purr.

"Yeah... yeah I am." He snapped back into reality, then grinned unabashedly at his friend. "Let's go home."

A/N:

Why, you're asking? Why the kitten...?

I'm terrible at writing fluff and happy small talk. MH doesn't really describe Jay and Tim's interests, pasts, or pretty much say anything happy about them, and I was at a loss. So I had to cheat a bit.

That's right. I had to give them a frickin' KITTEN to make this story fluffy at all. I guess I'll just chalk it up to Troy's affinity for cats.

So this was my second attempt at making some happy dialogue, at it still didn't turn out to be the basis of the story. Sorry! :(

Five points to Hufflepuff for anyone who caught the parallels between the two stories.

I promise for the next fic week (*crosses fingers to make it happen*), I'll have a lot more prepared and there will a bit more quality and length. I already have a lot more fics planned out, I'll just write them between now and the next fic week and release them then. There will be more chapter-length fics than one-shots, because I feel like I'm better at those than these.

Thanks to quintuplehorror for the prompt!

And finally, everyone give a round of internet applause to thescriptsupervisor (for now, thescriptspookervisor, XD) for setting up the fic week as well as running the blog for mhficweek13! Thank you so much! ^_^


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